Basement flood

Looked today and had about 2" of water in a corner section of my basement. I just bought the house in the fall of 2009. Its a 100 yr old home. At first I thought it was a sewer backup, so I called the City. They came out and had a look...turns out the drain in the floor, that I thought was a drian...is in fact not a drain at all, or if it is...its meant to be for very small spills then I guess it drains itself into the ground????? HUH I never heard of this before??? Is that possible??? So anyway, they checked my drain pipe which has a cleanout in the basement but its like a foot off the floor of the basement....it was totally clean unobstructed. So is it possible this water is coming up from the ground through this floor plate drain....I wont even call it a drain...because its not draining..LOL. So I vacumed up all the water, took off the cover plate and started sucking the water out of this floor grate. Turns out its just a hole about 15 inches deep with dirt and some bricks ect in the bottom....I have poured water in there before in the fall and it did drain slowly...Anyway, question is has anyone ever heard of something like this??? and was this tyupical in the day about 100 years ago? Could water come up from the ground and seep into the basement through this so called drain. And is it possible to just Cement it closed? OR the other thing I was thinking of was to put somesort of bilge pump in there with a hose going into my main drain that is very close to this one. Im stumped...ITs the only place I see this water coming from is up from the floor through that grate...Any help you could offer is much appreciated.

I have seen that in homes built in rural areas as from the 60's
It was a common practice for the homes that had septic tanks above the basement floor levels. Being 100 years+ makes your home a prime candidate. Water can and will come up through that hole, especially if you live in a high water table area. Spring or Spring thaw time, you will see quite a bit of dampness around the hole.

If I were you , I would use that hole to my advantage. Possibly place a little reservoir with a small sump pump or put in a proper floor drain.

I should mention the hole with the grate is only about 6-8 inche diameter and about 15 inches deep....is there a small enough sump pump to fit in that small a drain? I know they have bilge pumps for boats that have a float and when water is detected get activated to pump the water...but those are mostly 12volt. I just dont want water coming up through the floor and covering the basement floor. Installing this to the main drain which is tha old cast would be major work, as I said the main drain out to the street is about 15" above the basement floor level. So in actual fact...I have no basement floor drain....so my two choices are close the hole (Cement it in) or find some sort of float activated pump small enough to fit into the bottom of the hole, then if water does enter the hole, it could be pumped up and have that hose tied into my actual drain out to the street. Does this sound possible??? OR should I just cement it in, then I would have no drain???

I would clean/clear out the hole as best possible and slide a 15" section of 8" dia. perforated Big-O tubing down there. That will create a mini sump pit and you might be able to get some kind of pump/float assembly to work somewhat reliably. If you discharge this into your sanitary sewer line I believe you are against code but check that.

In the dry season I would consider smashing the floor and putting in a full size sump pit with a bunch of gravel around it. Add a full size sump pump and discharge it out through the wall underground and as far away from the house as possible.

If groundwater is pushing up through the hole there is a good chance that it will find a crack or somewhere else to come up through if you plug the hole. The proper solution is to install a real sump basin and pump which discharges outside away from the foundation. In most areas pumping groundwater into the sewer system is not permitted.

In Ontario, pumping ground water into your sanitary drain is NOT permitted.


Export has the proper solution for you

In the dry season I would consider smashing the floor and putting in a full size sump pit with a bunch of gravel around it. Add a full size sump pump and discharge it out through the wall underground and as far away from the house as possible

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export! said:

I would clean/clear out the hole as best possible and slide a 15" section of 8" dia. perforated Big-O tubing down there. That will create a mini sump pit and you might be able to get some kind of pump/float assembly to work somewhat reliably. If you discharge this into your sanitary sewer line I believe you are against code but check that.

In the dry season I would consider smashing the floor and putting in a full size sump pit with a bunch of gravel around it. Add a full size sump pump and discharge it out through the wall underground and as far away from the house as possible.

Click to expand...

What should I expect to pay to have someone do the second part you mention??? I dont want anything thats against code, so maybe the proper sump is the only way to go?

Our neighbour had it done last year for $800 if I remember correctly. This was with a french drain to disperse the water. I thought it was an amazing price and was surprised.

export! said:

Our neighbour had it done last year for $800 if I remember correctly. This was with a french drain to disperse the water. I thought it was an amazing price and was surprised.

Click to expand...

It was an amazing price because "French Drain " was in the sentence